ATP Cincinnati Quarter-Final Tips: Four heavy favourites on quarter-final day

• Tsitsipas and Medvedev among exits on Thursday

• Alcaraz among heavy favourites in today's quarters

• Zverev unlikely to be tested by Mannarino

Alcaraz edges ahead of Djokovic in the outrights

In what has been a tough two weeks for big names, further exits ensued in the last 16 in Cincinnati, with Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev and Stan Wawrinka all favourites ousted on Thursday night.

However, Novak Djokovic eased through yet again against Gael Monfils, who he's now beaten 20 times out of 20, and so did Carlos Alcaraz, who got revenge against Tommy Paul for last week's Rogers Cup defeat.

Despite this, Alcaraz has shortened to 2.35/4 for the outright title, with Djokovic now 2.68/5 in the tournament winner market ahead of today's quarter-finals.

Popyrin underdog to continue progress

Action starts later this evening at 1800 UK time. In the opener, qualifier Alexei Popyrin faces Hubert Hurkacz and is a 3.8514/5 underdog to make what would be an extremely unlikely semi-final, where he would probably face Alcaraz.

Both players are strong servers, with high hold percentages in excess of 85% on hard court this year, but Hurkacz's superior return game gives him a fair edge over the Australian.

Alcaraz heavy favourite to defeat Purcell

On the subject of edges, there's a considerable one for Carlos Alcaraz who is 1.091/11 to get past another Australian qualifier, Max Purcell.

Purcell has done superbly to get to this stage, but this shouldn't be much of a test for the world number one, against a 25-year-old who has never broken the top 60 in the world.

Mannarino's return game unlikely to test Zverev

With heavy pre-match favourites a recurring theme today, Alexander Zverev is 1.3030/100 to defeat Adrian Mannarino, having got past Daniil Medvedev in three tight sets last night.

For Mannarino to get the win, he will need to overturn history. Zverev is 7-0 up in the head-to-head series and 16-3 in sets across those seven matches.

Zverev thrashed him in their last meeting in Montpellier last season. Having won less than 30% of return points in their career matches, Mannarino will need to markedly improve on return to test the German.

Djokovic eyes seventh straight win over Fritz

Finally, second favourite Djokovic is 1.251/4 for his clash with Taylor Fritz, and has already beaten the American on six out of six occasions.

While Fritz was lower ranked in most of those matches, a 13-2 set scoreline shows Djokovic's dominance over him in those matches and the task which Fritz has on his hands to pick up a heavy underdog win.

With around a 4% edge on each of service and return points won percentages on hard court this year, this match is certainly on Djokovic's racquet and Fritz will need to play outstandingly well to reach the semi-finals.